How to Win

[Stonewall62]

I honestly do not know how some of you can win so many games and reach elite status. There's no way my die rolls could put me in elite status no matter how well I play. Case in point. I just rolled six straight armor dice against a 1-figure, no retreat infantry. This kind of thing happens often enough for me to have great doubts about the rolls in BGA.

[Jeronimon]

My two cents

It’s not the dice rolls that get you to elite status. It’s the strategy. I think Memoir’44 is about 70-75% skill and 25-30% luck (cards and dice)

When you throw six dice against a lone inf figure without retreat you did have bad luck but the strategy was good.

The dice on BGA are fine. Because we play so many games outliers like yours are bound to happen. They happen in real life too. But somehow digital dice are more prone to stick in your mind than real life ones.

I don’t know how long you have been playing Memoir’44. But some of us go way back. The game has been around for twenty years now. I, for example, have been playing Memoir’44 for thirteen years now. Some people might know me from tournaments and play days and demos

Analyzing the current elite I know 10 out of those thirty have been playing this game online and in real life for ten years or or more (5 I know in real life 5 I know from online). Of the others I have only seen them on BGA but they might have played longer also.
If I expand to include platinum league I know 17 of them in real life and six from online who have been playing ten years or more. Here also there must be players that I don’t know who have been playing Memoir’44 for a long time.
Also some players might have adopted different names when migrating over to BGA from the former platform.

so my estimate is tha about forty percent of the players on here have been playing Memoir’44 for a long long time and thus have trained the strategy part well.

Getting better
Have an open mind and try to learn from each game you play. Copy what works from your opponents discard what does not work. If they are prone to chat you might ask tips during arena games. Or else invite someone for a friendly game and ask for pointers.

Memoir’44 and the community around it have much to offer and can be a force for good in your life. It has been and still is in my life.


If you want more look into tournaments in the US. ThevWBC ad just finished. In the fall there will be a tournament in de DC area. MrManley runs a yearly tournament in Chattanooga.
In Europe we have had the French Belgium and Dutch open for ten years or more. And this September newcomer the YK Ooen in London. (Just booked a hotel yesterday )

Sorry for going of course, that’s my enthousiasm.

[Uller71]

I'm somewhat new to this game but after 20 or so games have managed a respectable ELO (200+ as of this writing). So I'm certainly not an elite player but I can tell you that I can spot below average players pretty quickly. They focus purely on attacking. They will move their most forward units more forward without support and leave them exposed just for the possibility of getting a decent shot. Better players will leapfrog units from behind their front, they will retreat or support badly damaged units with fresh units and they will only sacrifice material when they are clearly winning (it's better to be winning a 5 point game 4-2 than 3-1).

If anyone has a link to a more advanced strategy guide, I'd love to see it to improve my game.

[Perskindol mies]

As it says in the game information page, luck factor is 3/5. I´d say it´s actually 4/5. Play as many games as you can and eventually you´ll reach elite as you learn all there is to learn and luck will take care of the rest.

[sam1812]

Actually, @Perskindol mies, I've got a spreadsheet listing the 5700 games I've played. I know my win rates against inexperienced players, and I know my win rates against the strongest players. Depending on how you measure results, I basically agree with Jeronimon's estimate of 70%-75% skill. It's a game that's rich with strategy and tactics, as well as history.

I learned by playing against strong players and seeing how they frustrated or destroyed me.

[Uller71]

As it says in the game information page, luck factor is 3/5. I´d say it´s actually 4/5. Play as many games as you can and eventually you´ll reach elite as you learn all there is to learn and luck will take care of the rest.

Yes, luck is a big factor. But what I've noticed is the skilled player can make his own good luck by maximizing the number of attack dice he's getting to roll while minimizing his opponents. When your cards are bad you should be disengaging and playing defensively. When your cards are good and you are able to command 3 or 4 units in the same sector for 2 or 3 turns, you need to be pressing. The best battles are when BOTH players have good cards in the same sector...

[Jeronimon]

As it says in the game information page, luck factor is 3/5. I´d say it´s actually 4/5. Play as many games as you can and eventually you´ll reach elite as you learn all there is to learn and luck will take care of the rest.

Traveling back from the first Memoir’44 UK Open played in real life I will heartily disagree with you.
As the final scoring clearly represented skill and not luck.we see this again and again in tournaments in real life and digital tournaments. Better players consistently fill the top spots and less skilled players end up lower the rankings.

The Arena seasons are helpful, in that they are played with hundreds of players and also there players are pretty consistent in the outcome.

[K_P]

A luck factor of 4/5 would be a more realistic evaluation of this game. Yes, there is a certain level of card management, and with cautious and proper play and luck one can save many seemingly lost situations, especially for large scenarios. Unfortunately a large number of scenarios actually enhance the role of luck, especially those where the win conditions require only 4 medals or unit types are limited.

Almost all of the desert scenarios, most of the small infantry-based ones (Pegasus Bridge), the ones where you should make a breakthrough in order to exit units, and a number of others (looking at you, Tiger tanks...) are essentially random. In about 30% of the games, one side starts with a combination of dice and cards that gives an almost unbeatable advantage. If you are lucky, next round you will have the same. If not... well, that's it. Sure, in theory and on the long run statistics may be 50-50 for this situations, even though perception bias would make you think some fishy mechanics always prefers your oppoment. But after a losing a large number of games because of random factors, it is hardly a consolation that next time you may win some because your opponent is unlucky.

[jeroenh]

A luck factor of 4/5 would be a more realistic evaluation of this game. Yes, there is a certain level of card management, and with cautious and proper play and luck one can save many seemingly lost situations, especially for large scenarios. Unfortunately a large number of scenarios actually enhance the role of luck, especially those where the win conditions require only 4 medals or unit types are limited.

Almost all of the desert scenarios, most of the small infantry-based ones (Pegasus Bridge), the ones where you should make a breakthrough in order to exit units, and a number of others (looking at you, Tiger tanks...) are essentially random. In about 30% of the games, one side starts with a combination of dice and cards that gives an almost unbeatable advantage. If you are lucky, next round you will have the same. If not... well, that's it. Sure, in theory and on the long run statistics may be 50-50 for this situations, even though perception bias would make you think some fishy mechanics always prefers your oppoment. But after a losing a large number of games because of random factors, it is hardly a consolation that next time you may win some because your opponent is unlucky.

I can agree with you on the desert scenario's, and the Tiger Tanks. Luck in dice rolls plays a much bigger role there, but still it's not all-deciding. A terrible player moving tanks up one by one is going to get beaten by a more strategic player who is managing their front carefully.

Same with Pegasus Bridge, that just requires a more open mind and more patience than most novice players have.

I've been playing the game for over 15 years, have recently acquired a copy of the Tactics and Strategy guide, and I've learned a lot from that book, and from thinking more about how to play the game. The book contains the wisdom "luck can often explain 1 lost medal, rarely 2".

Players who are decent and play a lot can have an advantage in BGA Arena, but you can't rise to the top with just luck, or not make it to the top with bad luck.